Television Show Featuring Local Bands to Debut March 28

‘soundscan’ produced by Southeast student, alumnus

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo., March 22, 2006 — Local bar patrons might have noticed a recent influx of cameras at their favorite band’s performances.

Candace Banks, a Southeast Missouri State University junior mass communication major and a news reporter and anchor with KZIM Radio, and James LeBine, a 2004 graduate of Southeast with a degree in mass communication, have spent the last couple of months lugging their equipment to local bars like Port Cape Girardeau and Rude Dog Pub to tape the performances of local bands in preparation for their new television show, “soundscan.”

The show will premiere at 11:30 p.m. March 28 on UPN The Beat and will continue every Tuesday through May 2. UPN, The Beat is seen on Channel 33 on the Charter cable system in Cape Girardeau. UPN, The Beat also is broadcast over-the-air on Channel 9 in Paducah, Ky., Channel 24 in Murray, Ky., and on many other cable systems throughout the region.

The six pre-taped shows feature local bands from Southeast Missouri, St. Louis and Memphis, both in live performances and studio jams.

“A lot of these bands don’t have exposure anywhere else,” Banks said. “This is their way to get booked and get noticed.”

They will run contact information for each band during the show for the purpose of connecting these bands with possible venues.

This new outlet for the local music scene has generated a buzz, LeBine said.

“The Cape scene has been spreading the word about the new show, and ‘The Bone,’ a radio station in Poplar Bluff, Mo., has linked our Web site to theirs. Our Web site, soundscan.50webs.com, has been getting a lot of hits too,” LeBine said.

A young woman from Brazil even e-mailed Banks wanting to know how she could see Drivin Rain.

The hope for Banks and LeBine is to have a reason to do the show again next season. They’ve gotten great feedback from the bands, which they’re hoping will be echoed by the viewing public.

“The show isn’t really like anything else I’ve seen on TV,” Banks said. “It has a real live performance feel to it. It was just us, James and I, lugging cameras and a lamp into local bars. If you were there the night we taped, you might see your head,” she said. LeBine agreed with Banks about the tenor of the show.

“It has an amateur feel with a professional look,” he said. “You look like you’re at a live performance, but you have the quality there too.”

Each show will have two live performances and one in-studio session with three different local bands.

“The goal is to get the bands out to the public,” LeBine said.

The success of the show will also hopefully propel Banks and LeBine to that same recognition. LeBine currently is doing free-lance work, while Banks is a current media studies student at the University. The show has been the sole creation of the two.

They said they had done some collaboration in the past, shooting music videos, commercials and comedy shows. The two said they were wanting to expand their experience and saw a need for the show in the area.

The most surprising aspect for the two, they said, was how much they liked all the music.

“We’ve got groups that range from hip-hop to rock-a-billy bluegrass,” Banks said. “The Monads, a bluegrass band from St. Louis, ended up being one of our favorites.”

The first show will feature The Mike Renick Band, Giant Bear and DMP, and future shows will showcase bands like Dirty Thirty’s, Essence of Logic, Emaciation, Drivin Rain and Fists of Phoenix.

The show will run through early May, and if Banks and LeBine have their way, it will be here to welcome students back in the fall.

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